John Frieda precision foam colour- radiant red

Now exams are out of the way I thought it was the perfect time to give my hair a little attention and add a bit of colour to it, so I plodded down to boots to have a browse. My hair is naturally brown but in the past I have been all shades of red under the sun. Since the cheryl cole mania took place I have been in redhead hiding, at risk of looking like every other red headed english student on campus. I'm still not ready to come out of hiding, but My brown hair was getting a little samey so I decided to go for a subtle hint of red and I found the colour I was looking for with John Friedas foam colour hairdye in Radiant red (a medium red/brown). I have been interesting in trying this dye before but it has been a little pricier than the others, so when i noticed it on offer in boots for £6ish I snapped it up.

Here's some pics of the process:

My hair before: a pretty standard brown

The Box & colour
What came in the box. Black gloves, weird! also impressed at the size of conditioner it came with. (the tube that has the number 3 on it)
:P

Pics of Hair post-dyeing:

The dye added a very subtle amount of red, which I happen to like. It left my hair extremely soft and healthy looking :)
As for the foam element it worked really well and although my friend was doing it for me I could tell that the foam was very easy to apply, non drip, and didn't smell as bad as other dyes.

And just for fun, a picture of my hair at it's reddest:

Rachy x

May monthly favourites video

Heres my favourites video for the month of May. Must appologise for how out of sync the video is, something went wrong with youtube uploading it :(

Products features in favourites:
-Body shop shea butter
-Garnier skin naturals cleanser and toner for dry & sensitive skin
-Aveeno cream
-Origins ginzing eyecream
-Mac creamblend blush- something special
-Jemma Kidd dewy glow- rose gold
-Real techniques stippling and blush brushes
-Denman hair brush
-Collection 2000 skyscraper lash mascara
-Collection 2000 collagen curl mascara
-Revlon super lustrous lipglosses-pink crystals, coral reef, pink pop
-Topshop lipstick- Ohh lala

Rachy xxx

EXAM FREEDOM! = Mac eyeshadow haul :)

Soooo I have finally finished my 2nd year of university and all of my exams are out of the way! As a treat for this my lovely boyfriend said he would treat me to 2 Mac eyeshadows, and of course I was cheeky and bought myself one aswell. I also Bought a New 15 pan palette from Mac the other day so im getting pretty exciting about filling that up. The palette I'm creating is going to be a neutrals palette but more of a shimmery one as I'm more into shimmery finishes than matte ones at the moment and I really just want some special neutrals.
So here's the three I chose:

L to R: Sable, Mythology, Sketch

L to R: Sable(Frost), Mythology(Lustre), Sketch(Velvet)

Top to bottom: Sketch, Mythology, Sable

My new Mac eyeshadows at at home with their siblings: L to R: Shroom, Gleam, All that glitters, Woodwinked, Sable, Mythology, Twinks, Sketch

And I'm being naughty at the moment and storing some of my INGLOT neutrals in the same palette untill I fill it up with Mac.

Appologies for how grumpy I look in those pictures lol :S This is the FOTD I wore out to watch my uni's drama society's production of peter pan the other night:)
Wearing Mythology on the lid and sketch in the crease. Girl about town on lips.

So as you might see from the swatches I went for more reddish/plummy toned colours. This wasn't intentional but I fell in love with all 3 colours and noticed that as an added bonus they could all be worn together :)

Please comment with any Mac eyeshadows that you think I MUST have, because those pans need to be filled!

Rachy xxx

TAG: 11 most reach for products (video)

Heres my video. I tag anyone who want's to do it!

11 most reached for products:
-Bobbi brown corrector- porcelain bisque
-Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer- 1 fair
-Inglot pearl coloured eyeshadow
-Mac All that glitters eyeshadow
-Pixi gel liner- onyx
-Collection 2000 skyscraper lash mascara
-Illamasqua brow cake- thunder
-Mac creamblend blush- something special
-Jemma kidd dewy glow radiance cream- rose gold
-Vaseline with cocoa butter
-Topshop lipstick: Ohh lala

Bonus 2:
- Origins Ginzing eyecream
-Aveeno cream

Rachy xxx

My Skincare Regime (update)

I've done a skincare post before but I think it was a budget one. All the products from this post are still fairly budget but maybe a few pounds more expensive but my skin is probably at it's best at the moment, even though I've been eating all the crap under the sun..so I think a product praise is in order.
You may or may not know that last week I had a horrible reaction on my face which turned to facial eczema so I basically had to stop using all of the skincare products I was using and get all new, sensitive skin ones. I also had to go to the doctor to get steroid cream to help healing and along with this the doctor and a pharmacist reccomended Aveeno cream (a cream I hadn't heard much about before) to use along side the steroid cream.
The Aveeno cream contains 'natural colloidal oatmeal' which the doctor talked about and is also good for dry, sensitive skin and eczema.
after a couple of days of using the Aveeno along with the steroid cream my skin had gone completely down and is now infact clearer and softer than it has been in a very long time (I have continued use of the Aveeno because I LOVE it)
Now I'm not sure how the Aveeno cream would work for oilier skins but I would say overall I have combination skin and the eczema outbreak was unexpected, and continuing use of the Aveeno isn't making my skin greasy atall, just soft.

If I do wake up and my forehead is a bit on the greasy side I will just give it a wipe over with my toner.

Anyways, enough rambling. Here's what I'm now using and will be using for a long time:

First is the cleanser and toner. Both Garnier soft essentials rose extract. Dry and sensitive.
I really like the Garnier Cleanser and toner. They are soothing on my skin and have a lovely rosey scent. Both 2 for £4 in Boots.

When I told the lady at Lush I had combination skin (sometimes oily but can get dry) They reccomended Fresh Pharmacy. I mainly use the garnier products to cleanse but I use this in the shower to wash my face and when my skin feels dirty to remove excess oils.

And now for the extra special products. Origins ginzing eyecream and Aveeno cream. (the Aveeno cream was about £6) I use these together day and night and they just make my skin lovely and soft and feel really luxurious. I know there is a bit of hype going around about the ginzing eye cream at the moment and now I know why. It is creamy, soothing and helps eye puffiness. I also know that people have been paying up to £25 for this but DO NOT do that, because the boots website are doing the full sized pot in a set with a free mini lipgloss and mascara for £12.50! Link below next photo.

http://www.boots.com/en/Origins-Good-To-Glow-Ginzing-Eye-Gift-Set-Boots-com-Exclusive_1124494/

The eye cream has a slight pearly tint to it which some people might not like but I think it blends in nicely and only makes it a better product.

And that was my currant skincare routine with all the products I am using at the moment. The reason I did this post is because I really am happy with how my skin is at the moment. I actually look forward to the end of the day, taking off my makeup and moisturising etc because I look forward to how smooth all of these products make my skin feel!

Rachy xxx

My brush collection video

Im sorry if this is a bit of a boring topic but I am yet again distracting myself from revision, and I am clutching at straws (or brushes) in my attempts. Anywho, I just did a little bush collection video for anyone who is interested and wants to watch.

To non beauty bloggers my brush collection seems large and unnecesary but to youauty enthusiasts this collection will probably seem normal to modest.
None of these brushes are crazy expensive because I am a student on a budget and prefer to spend my money on makeup rather than brushes, but the pricier (MAC) ones were bought for me as a Christmas present.
here's the vid!

My Brushes ^

Rachy xxx

English rose to Golden godess- Instant tanning experiment!

I was feeling in need of a little colour on my arms today so I popped down to Boots to buy an instant tan (the idea of commiting to actual fake tan scares me). The brand I chose was the Rimmel sun shimmer instant tan in light shimmer. I chose shimmer for an extra bit of glitz.

Soooo when I got home I may have got abit carried away and decided to try it out on my face. It was origionally a joke to make myself look like a member of TOWIE but I surprisingly liked the result haha. My housemate Emillie was getting jeal so I did the same for her ;)

Rimmel sun shimmer instant tan light shimmer: 24hr, wash off (phew!)
Me & Emillie before (last night before going out) look relatively pale
Us now! would ya look at that glow haha. Also both wearing Mac style blush, Jemma kidd dewy glow-rose gold and Topshop lipstick-ohh la la

bronzed Emillie.......

and moi!
Our housemate Jack said we look like English roses turned golden godesses (I think he was being sarcastic, but nevermind!) Hence the title.

Now I don't know if this is a look I'll be rocking all the time as I quite like my pastey little face but maybe on holiday.

I'm in Essex bitch do do do do do do do.......

Rachy xxx

2 FOTD's- My skin's getting better!

So if you follow me on twitter I'm sure you've heard my rants about my poor skin. I also did a post a week or so ago. Basically I had a reaction, got reccomended a bunch of creams, the University doctor said I didn't need to see them and just wait it out, I made them see me, and they gave me steroid cream and Aveeno moisturiser. I wish I could have just had them in the first place because my skin has pretty much cleared completely now in 2 days (touchwood!)

Yesterday I was still laying off the makeup on my cheeks so that FOTD is more eyes and lips of the day, with a little added highlight in the cheekbones ;)

-The first look is yesterday's FOTD (still some redness on my cheeks) and the second look is todays, notice how much my skin has improved :)

Yesterday:

Face: Jemma kid dewy glow- rose gold (on cheekbones)
Eyes: Bobbi Brown corrector- porcelain bisue, Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer- 1 fair, Illamasqua brow cake-thunder, Gosh velvet touch eyeliner- golden globe (as e/s base on lid/under eye), Inglot eyeshadows: AMC shine 30 (pearl-browbones), AMC shine 25 (gold-lid), pearl 433 (green-crease), Pixi gel liner- onyx, Collection 2000 skyscraper mascara

Lips: Topshop satin lipstick- ohh la la

Today (notice clearer skin and makeup on face- yay!):

Face: Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer- 1 fair, Surf baby cheek powder- My paradise, Jemma Kidd dewy glow radiance cream- 02 rose gold,

Eyes: Bobbi brown corrector- porcelain bisque, Collection 2000 lasting perfection concealer, Mac prep + prime eye-light, Illamasqua brow cake- thunder, MAC e/s: Shroom, gleam, All that glitters, Mac kohl liner- I get no kick, Pixi gel liner- onyx, Collection 2000 skyscraper lash

Lips: MAC lisptick: Vegas volt.

You can probably tell from these pictures that I'm really feeling the glowy face with peachy and coral lips at the moment, so these will probably be a couple of my staple looks for this summer

What are you're staple looks for the summer?

Rachy xx

Jemma Kidd Dewy glow radiance cream- Rose gold

So even though my skin is still sore and I can't really wear makeup at the moment I still have loads of new, practcally unused makeup products and I was dieing to try one of them out. So I decided (perhaps wrongly) to slap on some foundation (you can still see some sore redness on my cheeks) and try out Jemma Kidds Dewy glow radiance cream in 02 Rose Gold.

Here's some pictures, Swatches and What It looked like on my cheeks:

Don't know why I took this picture, couldn't resist with the pretty packaging!

More pretty packaging

02 Rose Gold

Mirror inside, pretty convenient :) OOPS you can kinda see me in my slanket lol

Very pretty rose gold colour :)

Heavily swatched, blended.

With Dewy Glow on my cheeks.

My overall impressions of this product are: loveee! such a lovely creamy texture which glides right onto the skin and blends beautifully. It also has the added ingredient of jojoba oil, which can't be a bad thing! As I said in a previous post (and have ranted about on twitter), I am still suffering from an allergic reaction on my face so can't really wear makeup at the moment but I can tell that as soon as I can, this is going to become one of my staple products.

I bought it from http://www.beautybay.com/ for £13.50 which is cheaper than anywhere else I have found on the internet (usually £17).

Rachy xxx

Rave about Revlon! -Super lustrous lipglosses & Matte lipstick

First of all, my camera is back from repair, so I can once again supply you with half-decent pictures instead of the crappy iphone shots (woohoo!)

Secondly, Although I havn't been able to wear much makeup as of late, due to my horrible skin breakout and being stuck indoors with revision anyway, I have had a few of my new purchases lined up on my shelf to admire from a far. These purchases are three revlon super lustrous lipglosses and one matte lipstick.

I don't believe i've ever previously owned a revlon lip product but when I heard the glosses being raved about slightly in the only beauty community, I had to see for myself.
I popped down to boots and was pleasantly surprised by the gloss colours revlon had to offer, and the colours I picked up are right up my street!

Boots were doing a 3 for 2 offer across all cosmetics (and probably still are) so I picked up 3 glosses and one matte lipstick to give it a try.

Revlon super lustrous lipglosses in: 21 Pink Crystals, 180 Pink pop, 170 Coral reef. Revlon Matte lipstick-013 Smoked peach

The neglected new lipglosses/stick laying sadly on top of my revision

Swatches (in the same order as above pics)

Overall I loveeee the lipglosses, I wore the coral one for a couple of days straight and absolutly loved it. The Pink crystals gloss if the only one with a hint of glitter in it, and I think this will be a lovely everyday gloss. The glosses give quite a sheer colour to the lips but it is still noticable (as you can see in the swatches).
As for the matte lipstick- I have never been overly interested in owning a matte lipstick but after swatching the revlon ones in boots I noticed that the formulas didn't seem atall drying but more of a smooth satin finish. The smoked peach colour really appealed to me as I'm into my peach and oranges at the moment, but this colour is different from all others I own.

Anyone else tried any Revlon glosses or lipsticks they love?
Rachy xx

Sam Chapman Real techniques- Stippling & Blush brush review

I'm sure if you are a beauty blogger you all know who Samantha Chapman (one half of Pixiwoo) is, and I'm sure you will also know that she has collaborated with Real techniques to create her own animal cruelty free brush range. The brush line was launched in the US first so it was quite a wait for us in the UK to be able to buy the brushes on line, but they are now and available at:

www.love-makeup.co.uk

The Brushes from this range looked so pretty and some of the brushes looked quite unique in shape, so I just had to try a couple out for myself. I went for the Stippling brush (RRP £10.99) and the Blush brush (£9.99)

The packaging mentions that these duo fibre brushes are designed to create 'pixel perfect results'.

The face brushes have a pretty pink handle and all of the brushes have a flat base allowing them to stand on surfaces, which I am already finding convenient.

A closer look at the brush:

The blush brush has a lovely tapered dome shape and the stippling has a flat top, perfect for applying foundation and buffing in cream products.

And heres a little video of my first impressions on the brushes:

Rachy xxx

MAC Surf Baby: Cheek powder & Summer stash (Video swatches)

Ok so I already did this post but blogspot decided to delete it :S Heres a picture of the MAC surf baby collection bits I got and a FOTD I created using a couple of colours from the glitter stack

My purchases: Surf baby cheek powder- My paradise, Crushed metallic pigment stack- summer stack

I used the metallic pigent colour 'pink' on the lid and 'peachy' on the brow bone and in corners of eyes. Also used Revlon super lustrous lipgloss in 180 Pink Pop

Heres a little video with comments and swatches on the products I picked up:

Anyone else pick up any bits from the Surf Baby collection, if so what? :) xx

Topshop Cosmetic & brush Haul+ FOTD

So today my beloved student load came through and I completed 1 of my 4 exams in the morning so I decided to treat myself (any excuse). I went to a few makeup stands willing to splash out; Mac, laura mercier, Chanel, but nothing tickeled my fancy. What did tickle my fancy was a few bits I picked up from Topshop:

Top left to right, All Topshop: Cream blush- Flush-£6, lipstick- Ohh la la-£8, Sunflower headband-£10, cosmetic sharpener-£3, Liner brush- £3, Angled brush- £4.

I have only swatched the makeup products so far but they feel like they have really nice formulas. I lovee the pinky blush and the peachy-coral lipstick, perfect for summer. As for the brushes I havn't tried them yet but they look good quality and it is so hard to find a cheap liner brush that is this thin, I've been searching a while. I've just ordered a couple of real techniques brushes so I expect a brush post will be coming soon. The flower headband is just a bit of fun to wear to my summer festival :)

Here's some shoddily lit pictures, swatches & FOTD:
Blush- Flush, Lips- Ohh la la. (I love how my Elvis poster reflected in the blusher mirror and matches the lipstick packaging :)

Blush- flush (blended), Flush (not blended), Ohh la la lipstick

Moi wearing the blush and lipstick :)

Any one else tried any Topshop cosmetics or brushes they would reccomend?

Rachy xxx